IRCA announces high increase in auditor transition to QMS 2000 programme

Contrary to recent figures released by the trade press, indicating a low transition rate of ISO 9000 certificates to the new ISO 9001:2000, 95% of IRCA's new applications have been for the new QMS 2000 programme. IRCA has also seen an increase in the requests for transfer from the old 1994 programme to the new QMS 2000 programme.

IRCA Director, Simon Feary comments, “we decided to develop and offer a QMS 2000 programme in parallel with the existing QMS programme based on the 1994 standard to allow auditors and the market to choose when they transfer. This will therefore avoid the difficulties associated with the December 2003 deadline imposed by a number of auditor certification bodies. Feedback from auditors and certification bodies has identified that there has been little opportunity to audit against ISO 9001:2000, causing significant problems. We do not want to penalize auditors on the basis that they are unable to meet an arbitrary deadline, especially when the opportunity to acquire the necessary experience has been hard to achieve.”

IRCA will continue to offer the 1994 based QMS programme for the foreseeable future. It is expected that most will eventually conform to ISO 9001:2000 but it may take some years. IRCA provides flexible programmes, which recognize auditor competence against a number of standards, up to 136 alternative standards to ISO 9001/2:1994 are accepted on the 1994-based programme.

IRCA certification cards for these parallel programmes feature different designs to make it clear to users where the cardholder has acquired ISO 9001:2000 competence. Auditors needing to demonstrate this competence should act now. The market is showing indications that the QMS 2000 card is recognized and preferred. When the old standard ceases to exist, auditors who have not transferred may find they have a problem finding work.

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